Apple just launched its entry into digital school textbooks. Apple hopes to make the iPad a substitute for a backpack full of books. Scholars moaning beneath the load of multiple textbooks can now swap their large books for an iPad - if they can afford one.
Major textbook publishers have been making electronic versions of their products for ages but until recently, there hasn't been any hardware suitable to show the books. PCs are too expensive and awkward to be good e-book machines for scholars. Dedicated ebook readers like the Kindle have small screens and can't display colour. IPads and other tablet computers work best, but iPads cost at least $499.
All this suggests textbooks have lagged the general adoption of etextbooks, even if counting college textbooks acquired by students. Digital textbooks accounted for less than 3 % of the $8 billion U.S. Textbook market in 2010.
The new textbooks from Apple work with a upgraded version of the free iBooks application. Apple also released iBook Author, an application for Macs that lets teachers create electronic textbooks. iBook Textbooks dump the paper-flipping effect of ebooks for a more app-like experience, offering photographs, videos and interactive diagrams next to the text. Scholars can also highlight passages and make notes, then touch a button to have them changed into study cards. Teachers can also use the Author app to form iPad-based courses and message scholars when they set homework.
A couple of the major textbook publishers, Pearson and McGraw-Gill , have agreed to provide electronic textbooks to the Apple store to sell. The 3rd major company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is also anticipating working with Apple.
Though the idea appears appealing initially, there's been plenty of feedback re the discriminatory nature of this reform on students not possessing iPads of their own. Also , long-term these ebooks would finish up being more expensive for the students.
Major textbook publishers have been making electronic versions of their products for ages but until recently, there hasn't been any hardware suitable to show the books. PCs are too expensive and awkward to be good e-book machines for scholars. Dedicated ebook readers like the Kindle have small screens and can't display colour. IPads and other tablet computers work best, but iPads cost at least $499.
All this suggests textbooks have lagged the general adoption of etextbooks, even if counting college textbooks acquired by students. Digital textbooks accounted for less than 3 % of the $8 billion U.S. Textbook market in 2010.
The new textbooks from Apple work with a upgraded version of the free iBooks application. Apple also released iBook Author, an application for Macs that lets teachers create electronic textbooks. iBook Textbooks dump the paper-flipping effect of ebooks for a more app-like experience, offering photographs, videos and interactive diagrams next to the text. Scholars can also highlight passages and make notes, then touch a button to have them changed into study cards. Teachers can also use the Author app to form iPad-based courses and message scholars when they set homework.
A couple of the major textbook publishers, Pearson and McGraw-Gill , have agreed to provide electronic textbooks to the Apple store to sell. The 3rd major company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is also anticipating working with Apple.
Though the idea appears appealing initially, there's been plenty of feedback re the discriminatory nature of this reform on students not possessing iPads of their own. Also , long-term these ebooks would finish up being more expensive for the students.
No comments:
Post a Comment